


The Unexpected Guardian

by Lorz



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:23:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorz/pseuds/Lorz
Summary: Severus Snape was not a good man. He had proved that many years ago. His attempts at redemption had still not been enough for him, and so he was very surprised that someone else had decided that they had certainly been enough for them. He assumed they had been, because other wise he would not be sitting in Albus Dumbledore’s office after the reading of Arthur and Molly Weasley’s wills, in which they had named him guardian for their children.  All of their children.
Relationships: Severus Snape/Gideon Prewett (past)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edited, as rewritten during nanowrimo 2020

Severus was silent as he brewed the pepper up potions that Poppy had requested for her stock in the hospital wing, which would be seriously depleted when the students returned in September. They never did rest well for the first few weeks. Not that he felt sorry for them or anything of the sort, he was simply stating a fact. And the fact of the matter was that the students had always struggled to adjust to being in a boarding school. Though the past few years had been much easier, there was no such thing as being over prepared. It was better that they were over stocked than Poppy running out and annoying him to brew more when he was already busy with his lessons. It took a lot of planning to educate some of the students sent through his doors – and some, well some just were not possible to educate. And logically, Severus knew that having the potions stocked was simply best practice for the staff and was better for the health of the students.

After all, the howler that Molly Weasley had sent after her son Bill had collapsed in week three of his first year in Hogwarts was still ringing in all the staffs’ ears. Particularly Albus’ ears since it had been addressed to him and had exploded quite near his left ear drum. Severus had enjoyed the look on the headmaster’s face very much (it was not often that Albus was caught off guard) but had also sworn to never piss off Molly Weasley. They had been casual acquaintances for years, and in the years since the first of the Weasley children had arrived in Hogwarts Severus would (secretly of course) refer to her a friend. He had made it his mission to ensure the Weasley children had not become ill due to homesickness by using Poppy as a middleman since Bill’s episode. Purely to fulfil his promise to himself to never piss off Molly Weasley of course.

To his knowledge, Molly Weasley had been unaware of his personal mission, or so he thought until the first Christmas that he had received a lumpy, thick, wool jumper with the letter S in the middle of it that he had no intention of ever wearing. Never. He would join a nudist colony before the wool ever had a chance to make his skin itch. Still, Eileen Prince had raised her son to be polite to ladies, so he had written her back and thanked her for the thought, but asked that she not send items he would not wear to him, and that there truly was no need. He was simply doing his job.

Quickly, he had wished he had not written her at all, when a letter had come back stating that he had gone beyond and above his duties to look after her children, and she would show her appreciation as she saw fit, thank you very much. Molly Weasley had obviously been taught the art of polite letters as well throughout her childhood, as Severus had been reminded of his mothers’ flawless manners through the words Molly had written to him – the response had been polite but also made it terrifyingly clear that Molly would not tolerate him refusing her offerings.

After that, Severus had given up attempting to block the woman from writing to him and written to her regularly with updates. Once, he had tried to ignore her for several weeks and she had arrived at Hogwarts, given her two currently enrolled sons loving greetings and hugs and then tracked him down to his private quarters. The lecture he had been on the receiving end of had made his ears ring in a manner in which they had not rung since childhood. That was the moment Severus realised that while he had been reporting on her sons and their progress, they had also been reporting on him. Albeit, he was sure they had been a bit confused as to why they had been requested to report back to their mother anything of note about their potions master. After that, his letters had always been written as quickly as possible to ensure the experience was not repeated. He was quite eager to ensure that it never would be.

Without realising it, Molly had quickly become a confidant. It had been so long since Severus had been privileged enough to have a confidant that he had forgotten the benefits of it. It had been so long since Lilly had passed, that even friendship had been a concept he struggled to remember. Hogwarts had helped with that, but Severus had never been the kind of man to wear his heart on his sleeve or to mince his words and so true friends had been a luxury he had not been afforded in a very long time.

Which was why he had locked himself up making pepper up potions yet again since he had heard the news. When the headmaster had shared the news in sorrow filled words, Severus had nodded, thanked him for informing him and then left to his quarters. Even his trademark sneer had been missing, as he had been taken off guard. It had been quite a while since a stray Death Eater attack that most witches and wizards had become complacent. It sounded as though Molly and Arthur Weasley had put up a tremendous fight, Molly keeping their attackers back and Arthur protecting the children with every ward he knew before joining the fight. Severus could only imagine the ferocity with which the heads of the Weasley family would fight anyone who dared to breach the safety of their home and threaten the lives of their children.

Unfortunately, both had lost the fight eventually and perished. Their bodies had disappeared, and Severus know from his time with the Death Eaters what would be done to them. Their children had been protected, and while assumedly traumatised, were alive. Severus was not one to admit the feeling of pity, but all seven were now orphans. Five had not even reached Hogwarts yet. Their lives would undoubtedly be altered forever. Even one with a cold and hardened exterior such as Severus had to admit that it was a devastating fate for the family. Severus hoped they would find a good guardian that would take them in hand and raise them as Molly and Arthur would have wanted. The oldest boy was only fifteen, and even if he had been of age taking on six siblings to rear was a difficult task for someone so young. It would not have been surprising for the Ministry to refuse him guardianship even if he had been seventeen.

When a knock sounded on his door, Severus turned and said “Enter”. There could not be many that would be brave enough to disturb him, so he assumed it was a member of staff. It opened to show Minerva, eyes puffy and reddened, and he inwardly winced at the idea of consoling an emotional Minerva. It just did not seem natural to him. While he considered her a friend, she had been his teacher in school as well and that power balance had never quite completely disappeared. However, she did not seem to be seeking comfort from him, and instead nodded her head in greeting before speaking in a voice that sounded uncertain and wobbled several times.

“Albus has requested that we meet with him in his office. Due to… the number of children affected; he urged the goblins to speed up procedures to procure the wills. It may have only been several hours since the attack, but they have given the will to Albus already. With Molly’s brothers gone in the war… well, he wanted to ensure there was a guardian in place. If the Ministry decided to place them in one of the orphanages – well, it would be difficult to say how long it would take for Mol – Molly and Arthur’s wishes to be carried out.”

Severus’ eyes narrowed, suspicious as to why the headmaster wanted him present for the reading of the will. It was no business of his what the Weasleys had left behind and to whom their former properties belonged to or who would be responsible for their children. He did follow Minerva though, as he realised that at least he could make sure Albus would not be his usual meddling self and place them somewhere for the “the greater good”. The potions master still had not forgiven him for placing Lily’s son with Petunia, and he dreaded what state the boy would be in by the time he arrived at Hogwarts. He was sure it would be far from the child Lily… and Potter would have reared. Lily had not been far from his thoughts this morning when he had awoken, as it was her son’s birthday today. Perhaps that was why the remaining Death Eaters had been so riled up. The whole wizarding world knew who the Boy Who Lived was and the Death Eaters had not forgotten who was responsible for the defeat of the Dark Lord.

It did not take them long to reach the Gargoyle at the headmaster’s office, and both Severus and Minerva were quiet as they walked. Severus spoke the password (“Cockroach Pops”) and the two ascended the stairs to Albus’ office. Even the old man seemed to have taken the deaths of the two order members hard and looked miserable as he sat behind the desk. Severus greeted the others gathered in the office politely. Some he recognised as aurors, and one as a lawyer. There was a goblin present too, who stood with what Severus assumed to be the Weasley will in his hand. He had not expected so many to be present and wondered which of the aurors was the named guardian for the children. Or perhaps the guardian was not present? Severus had, after all, been asked to attend and he was nothing more than a teacher of Hogwarts.

“Hello Severus. Minerva, thank you for fetching him. The goblins insisted on his presence. Shall we begin? I am afraid I do not have many words to say….”, Albus’ words drifted off as each of them nodded and the goblin raised the paper.

Severus’ head lifted slightly in surprise at hearing the goblins had insisted that he be present. Merlin, what had Molly done? There had to be a good reason that he was listed in the will. A feeling of nervousness at his presence being insisted upon began in the pit of his stomach, though he made sure to keep his face clear of any shock.

_“This is the last will and testament of Molly Weasley and Arthur Weasley. In the event of the passing of one of us, all assets we have are left to our spouse._

_In event of both of our deaths, any money and assets we have are to be divided amongst our children (William, Charles, Percival, Frederick, George, Ronald and Ginerva) and placed in trusts until they reach majority at the age of 17._

_The Burrow is to be retained and ownership maintained amongst all our children and is not to be sold without the agreement of all and without ensuring each has a safe home to reside in._

_Should we pass before William turns 21, we wish for Severus Snape to take guardianship of the children that are yet of age. Should more than one of our children be 21 or over, they are to share guardianship of the younger children.”_

The goblin continued to rattle off preferences for funeral arrangements and the signatories on the will. Severus had turned a pale shade of white and had stopped listening the moment the goblin had finished listing out the arrangements for the guardianship of the children. He was aware every eye in the room was on him, shocked that the grumpy potions master had been listed as guardian. Well, so was he! Molly and he had only had a friendship through correspondence, it was not large enough to warrant this.

_You considered her your confident, why would you assume she considered your friendship insignificant?_

Severus shook his treacherous thoughts from his head. This was not a time to consider what Molly Weasley had thought of him. It was not as though Severus had cared about others’ perceptions of him in an exceptionally long time. There was a much bigger issue on hand at the moment that he needed to consider.

How on Earth was he supposed to raise seven children, five of whom did not know him, and two who knew him as their teacher?

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severus was sure he had not heard the goblin right. Surely, he was having a vivid hallucination caused by the shock of the news of the Weasleys’ deaths. Or perhaps he was asleep and experiencing a nightmare? That would be the only logical conclusion, yes.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the headmaster and others present were waiting for a response from him to the news. Minerva looked shocked, but Albus – well, Albus looked as though he had known. Of course, he had known. There was no other reason for Minerva having fetched him if he had not. Though Albus did not appear to be completely at peace with it, so perhaps he had only learned not long before the others. If Severus learned Albus had known before now and not informed him… he would be having words with the sentimental fool. Not everyone wanted to be surrounded by children all the time! Severus already spent the majority of his time teaching them, why would he desire to spend time with them outside of that?

“Severus, my boy, were you aware they had made you guardian for the children?”, Dumbledore enquired softly. His eyebrows were raised, and his lemon drops were untouched on his desk. It was not as though Albus had the excuse of not knowing Severus well, surely, he knew if Severus had known he would have politely refused and then kicked up an almighty fuss if the issue was pushed? Molly Weasley had not even informed him of their will and Severus assumed it was because she knew he would refuse to even entertain the idea if she had!

Severus replied snappily “No, I was **not.** Do you think I would have agreed to this? I am not one to raise children, especially not seven of them suffering from the trauma of losing their parents unexpectedly and listening to them die. They will need time, and attention and, and, and something is not me. I refuse. Absolutely not, it is out of the question!”

Severus stood, and prepared to leave. He would take no part in this ridiculous carry on. None of the others in the room had spoken, and he took that as agreement to the fact he was not a suitable guardian. Good. At least some of them appeared to have maintained some semblance of common sense. Severus Snape was not a good man, and he knew it. He had, after all, spent an exceedingly long time trying to make up for his past misdeeds. He had not yet made enough reparations to deserve being trusted to rear children and he doubted that he ever would. He was reaching for the doorknob of the office when the headmaster spoke again.

“There is a letter Severus. Molly made it clear these were her wishes and she wanted you to have it should the occasion arrive. I was… unaware of her decision, but the goblins informed me when they presented the will to me before your arrival. Will you not at least listen to the words of the woman who trusted you enough to make her guardian of her children? We can, after all, consider these to be her last wishes.”

Cursing the guilt that forced him to turn around at the headmaster’s words and the fact that the headmaster seemed to know exactly how to reach the emotions he kept carefully trapped away, Severus silently reached out to the goblin in question. When he handed the letter to him, Severus grumbled under his breath and opened it before reading it attentively. His face was blank as he read the letter, and the only sign that he was reading it was his eyes skimming down the page.

_Dear Severus,_

_I hope you never have need to read this letter, but none of us can be too careful. If you do have need to raise it, I’m sure you are surprised. When I knitted you the sweater that first Christmas, I promised myself it was a once off, a simple thank you. You never had been the kind to have many friends, and I admit that during the war I had written you off almost entirely. I had never imagined that you had been risking your lives to help us for all that time. I know Lily loved you, and she voiced her doubts about your intentions to me many a time. I hope that brings you a semblance of peace. I know now that I was wrong to write her worries off, for she was right. You are a good man, though I believe that you do not know it._

_I was furious when I received an Owl to say my Bill had collapsed, his first year at Hogwarts. The worry I felt sending him away had only been abated by the fact that I thought him to be safe at Hogwarts. I trusted that he would be looked after. And then he was most certainly not! Oh, you may have thought you heard my anger in the howler I sent Dumbledore, but truly, Arthur had made sure that I considered my words for a whole hour before I sent it. What I said, I meant. I was glad when after that he was looked after more carefully, and after speaking to Poppy I realised that he was healthy because of you. Oh, I know you did everything you could to avoid the recognition, but Poppy filled me in. She always was one to believe in the proper credit being awarded. I was so grateful… well, hence the gift._

_The letters were spur of the moment, but I thought you could use some company. It seemed like so very long since you had been allowed that courtesy. When Charlie left for Hogwarts I didn’t worry but I was sure you would looked after him too, even if you would never admit it. You might not think it, but you can tell a lot from someone’s words. And I learned a lot from yours. So much, that when Arthur’s aunt passed the year after Charlie started, we changed our will to make you guardian of the children. I know if we have both passed this will come as shock to you, but I want my children safe. Dumbledore has always said that when you-know-who rises again there will be another war, and who better protect my children though it than you? The man who risked everything for the right side?_

_Please tell them I’m sorry. I hope I won’t have left without a fight. Arthur says I’m being melodramatic, but I am a mother, and we protect our children. If I am unable to anymore, please do it for me._

_Love, Molly Weasley._

It took several moments to compose himself. His thoughts were chaotic and confused. He felt overwhelmed by Molly’s words, though he did not entirely understand the trust she had put in him. Once he had composed himself, Severus straightened and drawled out his words in a manner not unlike which he would give instructions in the classroom.

“Fine, if I must. I will need rooms added to my quarters of course, and until tomorrow morning to prepare. I am sure you can find someone to care for the Weasley bunch until then. “

And then he did walk out the door, as he had intended to only minutes beforehand. The walk to his dungeons passed in a haze and he focused on a plan for what he would need to do to prepare. It was not going to be an easy task to be ready for that number of children by the morning. He spat out the password to his rooms without stopping and walked through the portrait as it swung open, calling for his personal house elf.

“Loco!”

The house elf appeared in the room with a _crack_ and spoke in a squeaky voice.

“What can Loco do for Master Severus?” the house elf asked excitedly. It was not often Severus actually called on him after all. He usually only did so when he had dire need – being raised in a household with a muggle father and a mother effectively disowned by her family had not allowed him to be raised with the luxury of a house elf, and the majority of the time he preferred to carry out tasks himself. That would need to change now.

“I need a firewhiskey. Actually, just bring me the bottle. “ 

Severus eyed the house elf in contemplation before speaking again. He had already called Loco, he might as well ensure that everything was well prepared for the children’s arrival tomorrow. He could already see additional rooms connected onto the quarters. Seven of them. Each would have their own room then.

“From tomorrow we will have seven children living with us. I need you to gather some furniture for their rooms, they should have their own clothes and other items, but they will need beds, drawers, and wardrobes. Perhaps curtains as well. You can take the funds from my personal account.

There are six boys, and one girl. If I am correct the boys are fifteen, thirteen… I think the next one is nine or ten, two of them are eight, and a six-year-old. The girl is four or five. While I am busy you will be responsible for minding them. And a little bit of leniency - now mind not too much! Their parents both passed away today.”

Loco nodded excitedly, and Severus could tell the blast elf was actually excited to have children in the quarters! Blasted elf had probably punished himself too many times before Severus had intervened and done damage. When he mentioned that Molly and Arthur had died, his excitedness faded, only to be replaced by determination. Merlin, Loco would probably be harder to manage then any of the children. House elves were notorious for their protective nature when it came to wizarding children. There was a reason they made such great Nannies for them. It had been a long standing tradition for purebloods to employ them not only to care for their children but to also protect them.

He thought of the stories Molly had written him of the twins and their pranks and thought perhaps they would be worse now. Children dealt with grief in such mysterious ways. He had believed he had more before he had to deal with them as their teacher – now he would almost immediately be dealing with them as their guardian. Severus sat in his armchair beside the fire and nursed his firewhiskey. Damn Molly Weasley and knowing exactly how to appeal to his inner guilt. Though perhaps the right words were how to appeal to his heart, not his guilt. The woman certainly had been something to be reckoned with – he almost (but not quite) felt sorry for the Death Eaters that had taken her on. She would have been a ferocious opponent. It was a fleeting emotion, as seconds later anger flowed through his veins. Seven children orphaned, all for loyalty to a man who had already lost once and who held no loyalty towards his followers only towards his campaign for power. The Dark Lord was gone, but he was still managing to damage lives.

The glass he was holding flew into the wall and smashed, and it took Severus a few seconds to understand that he had thrown it in his rage. For a moment, his head was filled with letters in which he had spoken about things he would never have broached with anyone other than Lily before Molly had reached out. Oh, he had not spilled his heart all over the parchment, but he had opened the lock just a tiny crack. And now yet another red head woman he had cared about was dead. Her children were relying on him to give them a fulfilling life, which Severus didn’t know he was capable of. The moment Severus thought of his inevitable failure, a tear rolled down his cheek as he sat in his chair. Another quickly followed. And then another, followed by many more.

For the first time in many, many years, Severus Snape cried.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, they certainly made a motley bunch. Severus eyed the children assembled in the headmaster’s office with a critical eye and betrayed no sign of the panic he felt inside. He had been surprised when he had first laid eyes on them, though he had of course, been expecting them to be present. It was the entire reason he was in the office after all. The oldest had been quiet – he still was, but his stance and his eyes… well, they showed that he was putting on an act only for the sake of his younger siblings. Severus had seen it often enough throughout the past few years, with many children acting as the protector of their family after their parents’ passing. Severus mentally noted that he would end up in tears eventually, in an almost clinical manner.

The second oldest wasn’t much to remark of, the most Severus remembered of him was a cheeky attitude in class (he would drill that out of him soon enough) and a fierceness on the quidditch pitch that he hadn’t seen since his own school days when James Potter had still flown on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Severus’ own house’s team had suffered since Charlie Weasley had joined the team and Severus had told his mother so several times in their correspondence.

The twins had red rimmed eyes and a downtrodden temperament he knew not to be normal for them from Molly’s letters alone. Oh, how he had been dreading the day they attended Hogwarts. Now they were his wards and wasn’t that poetic justice? His eyes stayed on them for several moments, wondering how much they would act out in their grief. Severus did not know how to discipline children outside of the classroom – the only experience he had of disciplining children had come from his own father and Merlin knew he had no intention of replicating his father’s methods. His back still wore the scars. He was sure Molly Weasley would find a way to return and haunt him if he even dared threaten to lay a hand on any of her children. He would need to be creative in his disciplinary action with all the Weasley children.

The youngest two were huddled together and Severus softened slightly at the sight of them. Then he straightened his back and pushed off the pity. The last thing any of the Weasley children needed was pity from him. Sympathy perhaps, but not pity. They would receive enough pity from the rest of the wizarding world for the rest of their lives, they did not need it from their new guardian as well. They needed guidance on how to be resilient and how to not pay attention to what others said. The Weasleys were a well-known family and Molly had been the last of the Prewetts – another well-known wizarding pure blood family. Already, the Daily Prophet had run the story of the brave war heroes slain by the Death Eaters in revenge for their master’s defeat. It had been quite… sensational. Inwardly Severus scoffed. It was not as though the owners of the Daily Prophet cared. The Daily Profit would have been a more appropriate name. Tomorrow they would run yet another story guaranteed to sell papers.

The girl was crying. Severus struggled for a moment to remember her name; she was five if he remembered correctly though he doubted he was. He had not made much of her or the youngest boy (Ronald) from Molly’s letters. The others had such large personalities that the youngest two had clearly been swallowed up by them in the household. What had it been again? Ginerva, yes that was it.

A hideous name. Severus doubted she would be known as Ginerva as she grew older. William had already become known as Bill after all. What had Molly and Arthur been thinking with names like this? They were a guarantee that she would grow to hate her own name.

Hesitantly, Severus approached the children and, on a whim, crouched in front of Ronald and Ginerva. He did not want to scare them after all. Usually he delighted in the students being terrified of him, but these children did not need the terrifying potions master right now to keep themselves in line. They needed compassion and understanding. He remembered the days after his mother’s death when he had craved understanding from others and received horrible treatment instead. It had left an impact. Considering he had joined the death eaters only days later as a form of revolt against his muggle father, the consequences had lasted a long time. They were still present today. The papers would have a field day once they realised who the newly named guardian of the Weasley children was and Severus was already dreading the howlers. What he dreaded more though; was what effect the reaction would have on the children. He would need to remember to set up new wards to prevent them arriving at the Great Hall in the mornings. Thank the Gods his chambers were in the dungeons and so they could not arrive in his chambers directly.

“Hello Ginerva…”

Speaking softly, he addressed the rest of the children by name as well, youngest to oldest.

“My name is Severus; you are all going to live with me. I know you must be scared and sad… maybe even angry. That is perfectly acceptable, for a time at least. My house else Loco is extremely excited to meet each of you. I do not have use for him very often, so he will be able to tend to your needs if necessary. Now, for today we shall share dinner in my chambers, and I will show you to your rooms. We will need to set down some rules, but I think that we should perhaps get to know each other a little first, don’t you? Then we can agree on them.”

The oldest two boys seemed to glare at him, and Severus felt his temper flare before he forced it back down. Merlin, he was trying to be nice! What else did they want? It was not as though Molly Weasley had sent him a god damned manual on how to raise seven children he had not asked for or expected in the first place.

“Ginny’s only five you know, she’s not good with rules! Ron’s six, he’s only getting the hang of them. What are you gonna do if they break them, hmm? Mu - Mum never laid a hand on us you know. I won’t be letting you touch any of them.”

Severus closed his eyes when Bill Weasley spoke for the first time since Severus had entered the room and found them standing like the strangest army he had ever seen. That had most definitely been a suppressed sob on the word Mum as well. Thirty seconds. He had been in the room just over thirty seconds and already one of them saw him as an enemy. Gods above, had he known that he would end up have to rear Molly’s herd of children Severus would most likely have thrown himself off the astronomy tower years ago. He would have, at the very least, provided Bill and Charlie with a bit of preferential treatment in their potion’s lessons. They were talented enough; it would not have been difficult.

On the other hand, it seemed he had been proven right that Ginerva Weasley would grow to have a nickname in place of her full name eventually – evidently her brothers had already grown tired of it.

Resisting the urge to smile at Ginerva who suddenly looked terrified (he didn’t need to terrify her more and ruin any chance of redemption) and Ronald (who he suddenly realised was most definitely a Weasley due to the fierce rage that had spread quickly across his face at the thought of someone hurting his younger sister) Severus sighed and turned to face Bill.

“I have no intention of… “laying a hand” on any of you lot, as you so eloquently put it. We will discuss behaviour expected while you are in my custody and rules for your safety. I will expect that you agree with them after we discuss, that is the point of discussion after all, to explain the reasoning behind them. I swear on my magic I have no intention of harming any of you. Your mother trusted you to me – would you trust her judgement until you can form your own opinion? I am sure you are old enough to have some semblance of sense of how you should form one, are you not?”

Though Bill’s eyes were still shining with mistrust, Severus was relieved when he nodded in agreement and fell silent again. The others did not speak at all and Severus thought that perhaps they were silent in deference to the oldest. As he had thought at the beginning then – they truly did make a strange motley bunch. Ginerva’s hand seemed to be squeezing Ronald’s hand tighter than could possibly be comfortable, but he withheld comment. It would do no good, of that he was sure. The twins seemed to have moved closer to their younger brother and sister though he had not noticed them move and each of the Weasley’s had their eyes trained on him. The only exception was Ginerva who seemed to have begun crying at some stage of Severus speaking and had her head buried in Ronald’s shoulder.

Without comment, Severus stood and straightened himself up and gestured to the children to follow him to his rooms. Trying to show them a semblance of trust, he declared the password to his rooms clearly in front of them. There, they were not prisoners after all. Loco already had their dinner laid out for them and he asked the children to sit so they could eat. Getting them to wash their hands before eating could be tomorrow’s problem. Tomorrow was going to bring more problems than hand washing as the funeral of their parents was scheduled to take place. The morning was bringing dread before it ever dawned.

It took Severus five minutes and twenty four seconds of sharing dinner with the Weasley children to realise that the older ones at least still viewed themselves as prisoners and it took five minutes and thirty nine seconds of sharing dinner with them before one of them blew up his chair in a surge of accidental magic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edited as rewritten during nanowrimo 2020

Severus had expected temper tantrums. He had expected (and dreaded) tears at some point and he had most definitely expected accidental magic incidents to occur, especially with several of the children young enough that they were not yet attending Hogwarts.

He had not expected the first surge of accidental magic to be caused by the house elves delivering dessert. In fact, he had not expected either food or house elves to factor into _any_ incidents of accidental magic at all.

The ice cream had only just popped into existence in front of all of them seconds beforehand when Severus had heard a loud ‘POP’ and then experienced the extremely unpleasant sensation of ice cream dripping down his face. It had taken him a minute to recover enough to even think to wipe it out of his eyes. It had taken another half a minute for him to blink enough that he managed to concentrate and realise he did not even know which child had blown up their desserts.

Or why?

“Who blew up the ice cream?” Severus spat out, all the while questioning how his life could have gone this badly, when it had only been less than an hour after he had officially taken custody of the Weasley children.

And of course, of fucking course he hadn’t watched his tone and seconds after he spoke Ronald Weasley burst into tears and ran away from the table into one of the rooms that had recently been added to his chambers. Severus slowly pinched the top of his nose and closed his eyes, before rising and casting a silent ‘scourgify’ as he did so. Clean and in control of himself, he made to follow Ronald from the room. He did not follow Ronald from the room because the potions master suddenly found his path blocked by Charlie Weasley. Bill threw a glare at him as he stalked from the room and followed Ronald into the room that the younger boy had fled into.

Severus was not afraid of children. He was, however, afraid that Molly Weasley would come back from the grave and haunt him if he did not handle her children with care and respect. His care and respect might be delivered in a manner completely different to her, but it would be delivered, nonetheless. The look on Charlie’s face had most definitely been learned from his mother and Severus felt unsure yet again of how to proceed.

“He just had an accident! He doesn’t need to be shouted at. Bill will look after him. He’s only small and – “

Severus spoke across the boy that until now he had only known as his student, carefully saying “I am not going to shout at him. I merely wanted to check on him. Accidental magic can’t be helped – it is in the name after all Mr. Weasley.”

He refused to shudder at the memory of the feel of the ice cream exploding onto him, but Severus could still feel how disgustingly cold and… sticky it had felt. Then he realised that he had slipped and called Charlie by his title instead of his first name and inwardly winced at the fact he knew that was going to set him back in trying to connect with the boy on some level outside of the classroom. Oh, he could already see in Charlie’s face that he had definitely registered that slip of the tongue.

“Ok, well, I mean… do you promise?”

Blinking in shock, Severus quickly tried to hide how surprised he was at being asked for a promise. He was quite sure that the last person who had asked him for a promise had been Albus Dumbledore on the night he had defected to the light side and it most certainly had not been spoken in such an uncertain tone. Immediately, he knew that he had no choice but to promise. Oh when it was his turn to cross the veil he was most certainly going to have words with Molly for putting him in such a position – he could not remember the last time he had compromised his behaviour for the sake of a child!

“I promise. Now, may I pass? I believe your other brothers and your sister would most likely appreciate reassurance from their older brother.”

He glanced towards the other Weasley children who were still gathered around the dinner table but were visibly upset. Surely all guardians of children used emotional blackmail to get what they wanted at times? When Charlie nodded and moved out of his way Severus quickly decided that he did not care if other guardians did or did not. It had worked.

Stalking (there was really no other word that quite described how Severus walked when attempting to appear confident) to the room Ronald had disappeared to, he wondered if emotional blackmail would work on Charlie’s brothers as well. He was well aware that there would be yet another conversation to be had before he was even given the opportunity to check in with the youngest Weasley boy. Was this what being part of a large family always entailed? He found himself quite glad he had been an only child – dealing with his parents and their issues had taken up too much of his emotional intellect as it was, and Severus had never had a good (by any definition) relationship with his father by any means.

How were they not all exhausted trying to even communicate with each other all the time?

Gently, Severus pulled open the door to the bedroom and immediately spied Ronald crying hysterically on his older brother’s lap while Bill rubbed his hand over his back and whispered what he assumed were soothing words. The glare directed at Severus from the older boy was not, however soothing by any means. It was not too late for him to run was it? Blast Molly and her fucking requests for him to care for her children and fuck Hogwarts and the potions classes that he had agreed to teach. Fuck the war and Dumbledore’s need for him to spy, he could just leave for mainland Europe and hole up somewhere until everyone had forgotten who he was.

Except Severus knew that he would not run. In that moment he also realised that he would no longer be able to spy for Dumbledore – it would not do for the children to be moved to yet another home if he died would it? Still, the Dark Lord had not yet returned he had time to figure out how to escape that particular duty. Now he faced an admittedly more terrifying duty which was to somehow placate a teenager and sooth a hysterical six year old boy– he was six wasn’t he? Blast it all.

As quietly as he could, he walked slowly towards the two boys and attempted to speak in a soothing tone. Speaking in a soothing tone was something that he did not think he had ever attempted in the past. It had never been… necessary.

“Ronald, the ice cream is all cleared up. It only took me a moment, so no need to be upset now so you can stop crying. “

Well, the fact that the glare had just got even more intense now, so clearly, he was not saying the correct thing. Why the fuck had Molly not just left him a bloody manual on how to handle each of them? Clearly each child required specialized handling!

“I mean, that there is no need to be upset because you did nothing wrong.”

Now standing next to the two boys, Severus felt awkward standing while the two of them were sitting on the bed. Ronald was still hiding his head in Bill’s lap and Severus felt as though he was towering over the two of them. Finally he decided that he really, truly did not give a fuck and would try anything to have the moment over quicker and sat on the floor. It was cold, uncomfortable and he could see Bill staring at him in shock. He would have to warn him later not to tell any of his classmates – the last thing he wanted was for them to laugh at stories of the mean, strict potions professor sitting on the floor in an attempt to comfort an upset child. They would all expect him to be softer on them then!

“You know, when I was your age… well, my magic used to play up quite a lot as well. My – my – well, my mother used to say my magical energy was quite bold. She would go to brush my hair and the hairbrush would pop out of existence because I hated when it pulled on the knots.”

He had hated how his father had used it a tool for punishment more.

“Every time it disappeared, she would laugh and pick up a new one the next time she went to get the messages. If it was time for a bed and I wanted to stay up later – now, don’t get any ideas mind you – my bedclothes would strip themselves off the bed so that it would have to be remade.”

Usually it had been when his father was drunk yet again, and Severus had been afraid that the shouting would begin once he put his head to the pillow.

Severus took a deep breath and wondered how on day one of being guardian to seven children he had managed to sink to the levels of desperation where he was already talking about his childhood. Needs must he assured himself silently. It did not need to become a repeat occurrence.

“And once… well, once she made trifle for Christmas dinner and I truly disliked trifle. So, when she put it in a bowl for me, my magic made it explode. It would not come out of my father’s beard for at least a week!”

The bruises his father had left for that incident of accidental magic had lasted much longer than a week and Severus resisted the urge to grimace at the bitter taste in his mouth at the memory. When Ronald lifted his head and wiped the tears away from his face, asking “really? I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to, it’s just that, just – I mean, Mum always made sure my ice cream was chocolate because I hate strawberry!”, he breathed a sigh of relief and decided it had been worth it. And then he promptly panicked again because now he had to speak with the child, not at him.

Still, at least Bill was not glaring at him quite so intensely now.

An hour later the children had all gone to bed and Severus finally relaxed and poured himself a glass of firewhiskey. Speaking to Ronald and reassuring him had not been quite as difficult as he had expected and the others had seemed to instantly calm once they realised their brother wasn’t going to be punished for his outburst of magic. What did his students say about him when he was not around if the children had just assumed that he would punish a little boy for something completely out of his control? Every wizard (and witch) had outbursts of magic while they were young, it was one of the most natural things in the world!

Severus had known the rumours spread about him were not pleasant, but he had not expected them to be quite so out of control. Still, he thought he had handled the situation quite well considering the circumstances. Ronald had stopped crying; Bill had stopped glaring and all seven of the children had enjoyed their ice cream once he had requested that Loco retrieve their favourite flavours. He would worry about indulging their every whim and spoiling them tomorrow. Right now, he was going to celebrate the successes and the fact that his plan for the night had been completed, albeit with a few hiccups.

Well, fuck.

Severus knocked back the rest of firewhiskey when he realised that he had never agreed the ground rules with them which had been his only goal for the evening. Perhaps he had not been quite so successful after all.

When Severus had retired to bed at one am, he had expected that the children would sleep until at least nine am considering that they had experienced one of the most emotionally traumatic days of their lives and believed that he would be able to get at least eight hours sleep.

At three am he had been woken by the sounds of Ginerva Weasley sobbing and sleepily rushed to her room to ensure the girl was not being murdered while under his watch. It was only after opening the door to the room the girl had gone to sleep in that he properly woke up.

Her bed was empty.

His hand instinctively reached for his wand, until he realised that the sounds of sobbing had not stopped and were coming from the bedroom Ronald had retired to next door. Realising that his assumption she had been stolen away in the night by Death Eaters had most likely been far too hasty, he had stowed his wand away again and gently pushed open the door of the other bedroom.

All seven children were gathered on the bed and it was evident each of them was awake. He felt his heart stutter at the realisation that each of them had clearly decided sleeping together and then hardened his face. Only Bill seemed to have noticed his presence and Severus noticed that while the oldest boy was staring at him he was not glaring, and wasn’t that an improvement on the looks he had been on the receiving end of only hours before?

Well, Severus was stubborn, but he was not stupid.

As quietly as he had entered, he closed the door and stepped back into the hallway and retired to his own room. It seemed Ginerva was being well looked after by her collection of brothers and Severus did not think his presence was necessary. As he climbed back into bed he expected to fall back to sleep quickly.

Instead he lay awake for hours staring at his pitch black ceiling, struggling to forget the look in Bill Weasley’s eyes. The red headed teenager was still a child, but in his eyes Severus had seen the mentality of someone much older. Perhaps he was stupid after all, not to have realised that not only had the children lost their parents, but they had lost some of their innocence too.

How could a war that was over still be causing so many casualties? The Dark Lord was dead and had been for several years and yet there were still children growing up before their time. Severus remembered the feeling of growing up too quickly far too well.

He was determined that the Weasley children would not grow towards bitterness and hatred as he had. How on Earth he was going to achieve that he did not know, but he did know that he would have to learn quickly. It was nearing six am when he finally fell back to sleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> edited as rewritten during nanowrimo 2020
> 
> Graphic sex scene at the beginning (and majority of) this chapter.

Severus could already feel the beard burn on his neck, but he groaned out a request for more even as he felt it begin to grow painful. The other man’s lips on his neck felt good and it had been far too long.

Merlin, the next time Dumbledore requested Gideon go on a two week mission he was going to make sure Gideon told him to go fuck himself and refused to go. It had been far too long since Severus had experienced the pleasure of having the other man in his bed and he was sure Gideon felt the same. Or he would by the time Severus had finished with him tonight.

Gideon’s hand slid into his hair as his lips pressed against Severus’ lips, which opened without Severus having to make a conscious thought for them to do so. Seconds later he felt the other man’s lips probing at his and he thrust his hips upwards as he moaned. When their hips connected Severus fervently swore to himself that while this was clearly going to be over quickly, he was going to have the other man more than once tonight.

He wrapped his legs around Gideon’s hips and locked his ankles, while simultaneously sliding his hands into Gideon’s shoulder length hair and pulling. Only seconds later he was the one on top and he smirked as the red head tried to follow his lips as he separated their kiss. Placing a light kiss on the right side of Gideon’s neck, Severus murmured his words into Gideon’s flushed skin.

“Merlin, you look so gorgeous like this.”

Gideon muttered his agreement ( _“Yes Sev, I’m gorgeous, blah, blah shut the fuck up and fuck me would you?”_ ) before he kissed Severus again and rolled his hips against the man on top of him before tugging frantically at Severus’ shirt. Both of their robes had long been discarded. Neither man had lamented their loss.

Severus helped Gideon to tug the shirt over his head and threw it to the floor, before reaching for his partner’s shirt which quickly met the same fate. Later, he would complain that Gideon could have at least done him the courtesy of gently placing the clothes to the side and passionately deny that he had been the one flinging their clothing to the floor but for now he was content to just get his fucking hands on Gideon’s bare skin.

Leaning down to kiss the other man again, he groaned at the feeling of their bare chests touching each other. As he sucked one of Gideon’s nipples into his mouth he pulled the button of Gideon’s jeans open and smoothly opened the zipper – most of the time he complained that the red head chose to wear muggle garments under his robes but secretly he loved the fact that they were easier to remove when he wanted them off.

It took only a few moments to pull the jeans down and off Gideon’s body and he laughed in disbelief when he realised the other man was **not** wearing anything underneath.

“Truly, you must be trying to kill me. You delivered a report to Dumbledore while sitting in his office commando?”

Gideon rolled his eyes as he flipped them back over and he (finally) reached for the laces on Severus’ pants.

“Really love? Now is not the time to mention Dumbledore, surely you don’t want him in bed with us?”

In retaliation for that nasty little comment Severus reached for Gideon’s cock and stroked it roughly. The other man’s attempts to remove the remainder of Severus’ clothes stopped for a moment and so Severus removed his hand and cocked his eyebrow.

“Well, do you want me to fuck you or not? I could just go to sleep you know.”

Severus’ laughter filled the air when he got no verbal response to what he had said. Instead he felt air cool his calves when finally, the last of his clothes were removed. His hand returned to its previous position when Gideon kissed his way back over his body. A shudder tore through him when Gideon pressed a kiss to the inside of his thigh and for a moment he wondered how on Earth he was actually managing to stretch his arm in the manner to was to consider stroking Gideon.

He could barely feel the strain because Gideon’s lips on his skin were so distracting. When the other man pressed his lips to his stomach instead of where he wanted him to press them the most he groaned in complaint and flipped the two of them again so that he was once again on top.

With nothing between them now, he rolled his hips again and kissed Gideon harshly when their cocks met between their bodies. There was no finesse in the kiss, merely desperation and Severus silently cast a lubrication spell on his hand before pressing it in between their bodies.

“Sev! Fucking cold, give a guy some bloody warn – mmmm.”

A smirk graced Severus’ face again when Gideon’s complaints were cut off by a moan. He tightened his grip and stroked the other man roughly for a minute or so while he kissed his neck. As he bit lightly at Gideon’s neck, he took his own cock in hand along with Gideon’s and stroked the two of them lightly while groaning.

“Be a good boy and I’ll give you what you want after, I promise, I just – I just need – first – “

His words grew incoherent as he felt the muscles in the bottom of his stomach begin to tighten. It would be better once he had got the first orgasm out of the way – he always lasted longer then, could tease Gideon better…. The pace of his hand’s movement grew faster as he began to suck on Gideon’s collarbone – he’d make sure that his lover didn’t heal it in the morning, that there was a mark to show that Severus had taken him tonight, that he was his. That Gideon belonged to him and only him.

Just as Severus felt the muscles in his thighs tighten and realised he was about to come, Gideon’s hands moved from where they had been scratching down his back and lifted Severus’ head so that his eyes met Gideon’s.

“Sev, I lo-“

It was dark. Pitch dark. Severus’ crotch felt wet and sticky and – _oh, he was in his bed._ Looking to the left of him, Severus could not see anything in the darkness, but he knew for certain Gideon was not there. It had been quite a while since he had lain next to Severus and shared a bed with him.

Severus’ cursed the fact that even all these years later his mind still decided that he deserved to dream of the last time he had got to have Gideon in his bed before he left for yet another mission.

Because of course Severus had not told him to tell Dumbledore to go fuck himself. Of course, Gideon had not refused to go. Of course Gideon had kissed Severus goodbye the following afternoon when he had called to Severus’ quarters to tell him that he was leaving “on a quick mission, I promise I will be back soon, Sev and when I am I swear to fuck you are going to actually come to the Burrow with me. Fuck Voldemort, I’ll make all of ‘em take an unbreakable vow.” Of course, Gideon had not returned and of course it had taken three days for anyone to even notify Severus in passing that the mission had gone wrong and both Gideon and his brother Fabian were dead. He wished Gideon had lived up to the meaning of his name more – mighty warrior indeed.

The two of them had never quite got around to making it public knowledge they were together, after all. Severus had even been forced to shake Antonin Dolohov’s hand in congratulations the next time the Dark Lord had summoned him to a meeting. He had longed to tear it off him instead.

Fuck, having so many bloody red heads around was reminding Severus of his life when it had still held hope of a happy future if he managed to make it through the war, and the children had not even lived with him for a full day. He could not even bring himself to be grateful that he would not have to watch Molly Weasley weep from afar at this funeral because instead he would have to watch her children do so, at a much closer distance.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At nine am he checked on the children again when he did not hear them rise and found them all sleeping in the same room he had found them in earlier that morning. For several moments he lingered at the door and stared at his newfound wards and wished that they could remain in the peaceful state that they seemed to have achieved through sleep.

At fifteen minutes past nine he summoned Loco and told the house elf to notify him when they woke and serve them breakfast after which Severus would discuss the ground rules for living with him and find out what rules they wanted in place too – not that he would provide an absolute guarantee he would agree to all of them.

For now, he would leave them sleep. A late lie in was the least of what they needed in the current situation. The funerals were scheduled for that afternoon after all. Perhaps the ground rules could wait another day. Then he stalked (for again there was no better word) to his potions classroom to brew more potions for the school infirmary before he had to try and prepare seven children to bury their parents


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first three chapters had new content so if you're reading because of the update make sure to go back read them - there's about 4000 extra words you'll have missed out on. 
> 
> I'm currently finishing this as part of Nanowrimo so first three chapters have been updated accordingly.

It had been nearly eleven am before Loco had popped into Severus’ classroom and notified him that the children were stirring. Severus simply nodded in thanks and told his house elf that he would be along in a few minutes. He carefully added the last ingredient to the potion he was brewing and then walked slowly to his chambers. The potion needed to simmer for twenty four hours so there was no worry that it would be ruined.

Had any of his students seen his slow but steady walk to his rooms, Severus was sure it would have installed fear. Out of character behaviour was always to be feared after all, and his slow walk was most definitely out of character.

He was not looking forward to the funerals. As he grew nearer to his quarters, he reminded himself that he needed to buck up and support the children (or at least get them there in one piece and looking presentable) rather than wallowing in memories of losses long since past. This was a different funeral and he had seven children that had been trusted to his care.

Even if he was still confused to as why on Earth anyone would trust him to care for seven children.

Breakfast was a solemn affair and Severus did not ask how the near silent and visibly upset children were. He was not a good man, but he did have some level of emotional intelligence. Five minutes into breakfast he realised that Fred (or was it George? Dammit he was going to have to get them name tags) had not touched any of the food on the table.

“Is there something wrong with breakfast, Fred?”

“Im’na Fred, I’m George.”

Severus sighed quietly. He would just not address either twin by name, it would be much easier. He had just begun to apologise when Percival (did he go by Percival or Percy? Severus could only remember that Molly had switched between the two names more towards the end) spoke up angrily.

“Merlin’s pants Fred, don’t lie. Never mind him Professor Snape, he is Fred, he’s just a liar and trying to prank you.”

Well, Severus certainly knew which child would tell him the truth. He would need to remember that for future… incidents.

“Thank you, Percy. I’m sure your brother was just having a bit of fun, your mother told me that the twins are quite the pair of pranksters. I was reliably told that your father’s hair was turned grey by them several times… accidentally of course.”

Then. Well then Severus promptly panicked for the Merlin knew what time in the past day when he saw Charlie wince and sink down a little in his seat. Oh fuck, it probably was not the most sensitive thing to mention their parents when they were about to bury them was it. Or was it a good thing? They had to speak of them at some stage today perhaps it was better if it was in private for the first time at most?

He deliberately ignored the fact that he had just realised Arthur Weasley’s hair would never naturally turn grey.

Severus’ eyebrows rose of their own accord when the twin in question shoved his chair back from the table and began to shout. Well, Severus thought he was attempting to shout but it was broken by heart wrenching sobs that seemed to have appeared extremely suddenly.

“I said – I’m – Im’na – I’m – I’m not Fred! I’m George.”

Unsure of how to proceed, Severus simply stared for a moment. He did not know whether he was supposed to comfort, give out or both. How did one know what to do in these circumstances? When he finally did open his mouth to speak, he was cut off when the second twin suddenly shoved his chair back from the table too and spoke. At least this one did not have the heart wrenching sobs accompanying this words.

“I’m Fred. He’s George. Gonna call both of us liars Perce?”

Severus felt even more lost. He was sure that both of them were lying to him. Surely if anyone could tell them apart then their older brother could? He looked at the oldest two boys for guidance and panicked further when both of them avoided his gaze and stayed silent.

So. This was a fucking test. One that he had never been given the opportunity to study for and one that he was most certainly going to fail.

Severus attempted to speak again, but this time was cut off by a very indignant Percival (Percy? Perce? Why did they all have so many bloody names?) who began shouting at his two younger brothers.

“No, you’re not! Stop being awf- awfu- awful! You need to be good. Mu- Mum an-and Da – Dad would be really angry if they were ali- here. If they we- were here and you need to behave!”

Oh Merlin, there was another one crying. Severus considered praying to a God he had long since disregarded for the first time since he had been eight years old. He needed help from anyone that could give it at this stage. Even a God he had long since stopped believing in would do. How was he supposed to deal with multiple crying children? One had been difficult enough to manage and even then Bill seemed to have done most of the work already.

“Why don’t we all just –“

“Shut up Percy! You don’t take your head out of your books long enough to even know which one of us you’re talk- talk – talk- speaking to! Mum and Dad wouldn’t be angry at us, don’t you dare- how can you – I can’t believe you would say that they would!”

Well, now Severus was sure that no matter what he did he was fucked six ways to Sunday. Still, he was not very happy that Percy had brought their parents into the argument, it really was not the day for it. He kept chanting “emotions are high, be calm” as he took a deep breath.

“Enough! Now, we are all going to sit down and talk. I know you’re all upset, but shouting at each other isn’t helping things. And I’m an honest man – I don’t have the patience for arguments like this either.”

The looks the two oldest boys let Severus know that he had clearly said the wrong thing. He wracked his memories of Molly’s letters in an attempt to find something (anything) that would calm all of them down and not conclude in lowering him even further in their regards.

It was as though a light bulb went off and Severus hoped he had the right idea (and the right memories).

“I…. apologise for snapping. Emotions are high for everyone today – though I do not pretend to be experiencing the same as yours, I remember… well, I remember how angry I was when my mother died.”

That was twice now that he had brought up memories of his childhood. Desperation was truly an unforgiving driver.

“Now, I’m sure no one was lying – Gred, Forge if you would sit back down and Gred if you could tell me if there is something wrong with breakfast, I will get Loco to bring you something else. You must eat. I ask you do not yell at your brother again, he was only trying to help the situation.”

He turned his focus to Percy, who was staring at the ground in obvious frustration and upset. The boy made quite a pity inducing show at the moment. It reminded Severus of a young child having a temper tantrum. Which made sense considering that Percy was a young child.

“Percy, thank you for trying to help. However, I would appreciate it if you did not yell at your brothers either. Now, can we all be civil and finish breakfast? I need to get you all ready for the funerals and I have a potion awaiting me downstairs to complete beforehand.”

Once again Severus sighed in relief when they all nodded. Fred’s (George’s?) face even seemed to light up at being referred to as Gred. Severus ignored the fact that the looks on Bill and Charlie’s faces meant he had not aced the test in their estimation, but neither of them were yelling at him and he was quite willing to take that as a win for now. At least neither had intervened.

He was not a fan of being seemingly “tested” and “evaluated” by two teenage boys. Once they had settled in a bit he would need to put his foot down and ensure they knew that he was the guardian and not them. For now, he did not have the want or the energy to get into that particular argument and so he left it alone. Unease stirred in his stomach – it was taking a lot of energy and thought to speak to the children in a passable manner, how was he supposed to do this for the following years?

Severus was very aware that his current success was hinging on his ability to think things through and that would not last forever. He was a short tempered man and a grumpy one at that. The children would push him even further – they had already pushed him to near breaking point and they had only been in his custody for a day! He would need to return to teaching once the school year began properly again which was only weeks away and then he would be tired and badly tempered when he had to put up with some of the simpletons in his classroom.

An hour later Severus was checking on the potion he had left unattended (not hiding and he had most definitely not lied about it needing to be completed before the funerals) when Loco popped in and told him that the children were ready for the funerals. After returning to his chambers and getting ready himself, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for yet another event he had never thought it would fall on his shoulders to guide any child through. Then he opened his bedroom door and strode out, oozing confidence that was completely and utterly false.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to Bill's POV of the attack on the Burrow. 
> 
> The first three chapters have been updated as this is being completed as part of nanowrimo 2020 - if you're back after them make sure to take a look or you'll be missing parts of the plot!

Bill woke from his deep sleep abruptly and for a moment was unsure what exactly what woken him up. He had been having quite a nice dream and was annoyed that he had been taken away from it.

Then he registered the sound of his younger siblings, his father shouting and several loud bangs. It was as though all of his senses immediately heightened and he grabbed his wand from the drawer in his bedside cabinet. He reasoned with himself that Fred and George had undoubtedly done something stupid and blown up another experiment, but he couldn’t help the worry that crept into his body.

Dad didn’t shout easy. Usually Mum was the one that lost it and Dad was the disappointed one. If Fred and George had just messed up another stupid childish experiment then why was his Dad shouting? Bill couldn’t even make out what he was shouting and the bangs and loud crashes had continued.

His bare feet didn’t make any noise as he hurried out onto the landing in nothing but his boxers. It was chilly and a quick look out the window had shown him that it was still early in the morning. When he passed the linen closet on the third floor on his way downstairs, he heard the sound of someone moving and froze. What if someone was attacking them? He was young but he wasn’t too young to not remember that last year Eddie Kurnbang’s family had been attacked by rogue death eaters.

Eddie had cried in the common room on his first day back after they had been buried. His little sister and his parents had died in the attack. The families of muggleborns had never stood a chance against Dark wizards. Bill could still remember how silent he had been while his friend cried. Words had escaped him and he hadn’t known what to do.

Steeling himself, he swung open the closet door and immediately lowered his wand when Ron screamed in fright and tried to back even further away from him.

“Ron! Ron, it’s ok it’s only Bill, sssshhh. What’s happening?”

Frantically he reached in and pulled his brother to him while urging him to be quiet. He heard his mother’s voice shout but he couldn’t make out what she was saying anymore than he had been able to make out his Dad’s shouts from his bedroom. He thought he heard the sound of glass breaking and the worry he had felt earlier grew to full blown panic.

_Someone was here._

_Someone was attacking the Burrow._

_Someone was attacking them._

**Bill didn’t want to be the next Eddie Kurnbang.**

He blinked back the tears that accompanied the panic and focused on Ron. If he got upset it would only make Ron more scared, he needed to be strong. Bill was a good big brother he could do this.

“People in the – people in the house, Mum was getting me a hot – hot – choc -olate and then she told me run upstairs. Saw them throu’ the window.”

Bill tried to process what Ron was saying as quickly as possible and pushed down the panic that grew more and more encroaching with every word. Oh Merlin, there were actually Death Eaters here.

“Ok, ok Ron, were the others downstairs?”

Still crying, Ron shook his head and whispered “Just Mum and me. Mum yelled for Dad -” before sobbing loudly again. Bill tried to sssh him in comfort, but knew he was failing.

“Ron, I need you to go to my room ok? Hide under the bed and –“

Someone was coming up the stairs. Bill panicked and quickly told Ron to stay quiet and hidden in a hushed tone before closing the closet door. He spun around, raising his wand again as he did so, only to lower it again when he saw that it was his Dad looking frantic and panicked. His glasses were slightly askew, and Ginny was perched on his hip. When he spoke his voice was rushed but strong and firm.

“Bill! Bill, I need you to take Ginny do you understand? I need to find the others.”

Bill froze for a moment and only moved again when his father reached out and shook him. Mouth open wide, he stared up into his Dad’s eyes and tried to speak, failing to do so.

“Bill, do you understand? I need to find the others and help your Mum. I think some of the boys are hiding ok, if you see them you bring them all to your room!”

Bill nodded in understanding and extended his arms to take Ginny who was crying, albeit silently. With one hand he reached out to open the closet door, ignoring how his Dad had pressed a kiss to Ginny’s head and muttered that he loved her before handing her over. If Dad could stop acting like he wasn’t going to see her again it would be a lot more calming, he thought to himself.

“Of course I’ll see her again I’ll be right back. Ron, Ron come here, come on go with your brother.”

And then his Dad pressed a kiss to Bill and Ron’s heads too and told them he loved them as well. As if on autopilot Bill hurried as quick as he could to his room. With a smile that he knew had to look as false as it felt, he instructed his two youngest siblings to hide under the bed. Both of them were still crying and he felt guilty that he didn’t even take the time to reassure them before rushing out his bedroom door and trying to find his Dad. The sooner they had all of them together the quicker it would be.

He had no sooner closed the door behind him than he ran right into Charlie, who had his wand drawn as well and looked to be in full blown panic mode. Attempting to imitate the strong and firm tone their Dad had used earlier, Bill told him to go into his room and calm Ron and Ginny.

“But Bill, Dad’s looking and Mum’s –“

“I’m going to go help Dad and then we’ll help Mum, but Ron and Ginny need to be calmed down. Protect them?” Bill requested as he hugged Charlie tightly before moving quickly away. There wasn’t time to reassure Charlie, he needed to go help his parents. He was walking up the stairs to the fourth floor when he heard Percy scream and broke into a sprint.

His heart seemed to be lodged in his throat when he rounded the landing corner and saw Percy trying to pull away from a person in a mask. From a Death Eater in a mask. Automatically, he raised his wand and shouted _“Expelliarmus!”_ and watched as the Death Eater’s wand flew threw the air away from Bill but more importantly away from the Death Eater himself. No wizard reacted calmly to his wand being taken away and the Death Eater’s panicked attempt to retrieve it meant that Percy was able to run towards Bill. Bill’s hand ran through Percy’s hair as he tried to comfort his younger brother and tell his heart to bloody well calm down. He wasn’t going to be able to do any good if his heart gave out due to the stress!

“My room, Percy, go! Charlie’s in there with the others. Now!”

With a frightened glance that Bill ignored, Percy took off running down the stairs only a few seconds after the words left Bill’s mouth. In his eagerness to make sure the younger boy actually went as he had told him to, Bill made the mistake of watching him for a second too long and suddenly registered the Death Eater spitting out the _crucio_ curse. Then he felt excruciating pain radiate throughout his body.

Oh Merlin, they hadn’t been exaggerating when they called it an unforgivable curse. Bill could hear someone screaming but didn’t realise that it was his screams. It felt as though every nerve in his body was being burned at once and then extinguished before being lit again. He couldn’t feel his wand in his hand anymore, could not feel anything other than the pain that seemed to be racing through him at all. It seemed to go on for only seconds and for hours at the same time.

_Then the pain stopped._

Bill couldn’t move for a minute or so and couldn’t feel anything at all, even though the pain had stopped. The first one of his sense to come back on board was his hearing and he could hear the sound of people dueling. He recognised the sounds of spells clashing off each other from the dueling club in school and heard someone grunt in pain before there was silence.

He was attempting to pull himself to his feet and trying to feel around to find his wand that had fallen from his grasp when he felt someone grab his arm. Panicking, he swung his left arm out in an attempt to get them to let go of them. The movement was aborted when he heard both twins shouting “It’s us, don’t. Bill are you ok?”, “I think Dad’s hurt, he’s bleeding” and “Fred! George! Be careful.”

Groaning, he managed to get himself to all fours and looked up to see two very terrified twins hovering over him. Focusing was difficult, but he finally registered that one of them had said their Dad was hurt. As he tried to push himself properly to his feet, he tried to look around them.

“Where’s Dad?”

When he spied his Dad getting to his feet himself, he ignored the responses from the twins. Oh Merlin, there really was blood. He needed to check –

“Not in my fucking house!”

His head whipped around quickly when he heard his mother shout from downstairs and then heard what sounded like someone going through a glass window. What was happening downstairs? How long had they all stayed upstairs while she was alone? His mind raced through all the questions he didn’t have the answers to, and he was only drawn out of them when his Dad was suddenly there standing next to him.

Oh, that was a body on the ground that Dad was trying to stop him, Fred and George from seeing. The Death Eater was dead. Bill wondered if he should feel guilty for the relief that he felt at the sight of a dead body. The only one he had ever seen before had been his Uncle Bilius the summer before and Mum hadn’t allowed them to be around him much – at her cousin’s wedding a few years before he had pulled up his robes and pulled bunches of flowers out of _questionable_ places and she hadn’t allowed them to spend much time with him after that. Bill had only glanced him for a second and it hadn’t really had that much of an affect on him.

_Surely a body on the landing of the Burrow should affect him more?_

Suddenly he realised that he was moving and not of his accord. His Dad’s arm was around his waist and the twins were clutching the end of his Dad’s shirt. So Dad was pulling him then. That was ok. He wasn’t quite sure his feet were going to work properly at the moment, so maybe that was for the best.

_There was something else he had wanted to do, wasn’t there?_

“Mum! Da- Dad, I heard Mum and –“

Sweat was dripping down his Dad’s brow as he pulled Bill back down the stairs. He was bringing him to his room then and the twins were coming to – that was good. That was everyone in besides their Mum.

_What were they going to do in his room again?_

“Sssh Bill, it’s ok, come on, in you go. Fred, George you too.”

Bill could see Charlie had Percy, Ron and Ginny gathered on Bill’s bed and that he had spun to shove his wand in Dad’s face when they came in the door. His younger brother seemed to relax at the sight of more of his family and rushed forward to put a hand around the other side of Bill.

“Dad, what’s going on? Where’s Mum? Your head – it’s – is that blood? What happ – what happened to Bill? I could hear him –“

He seemed to glance furtively towards the others and helped lower Bill to the floor before continuing to speak in a lowered tone.

“I could hear him screaming and I wanted to help but –“

“Later, Charlie ok? Now, you all need to stay in here do you understand? I’m going to go help your Mum and both of us will be right back then, but you all need to stay in here.”

As he spoke he moved closer to each of them and when Bill felt shaking lips press against his forehead he realised that their Dad must have been giving each of them a kiss. The panic he had suppressed earlier came flooding back when he realised that his Dad was going downstairs. He couldn’t go alone, he was hurt but Mum needed help and Bill still didn’t think his feet would hurt and Charlie couldn’t go he was still just a kid even if he was close in age to Bill and the others were proper kids **and, and , and.**

And his Dad was casting spells. Why was he casting spells? The room seemed to be spinning and Bill realised that while his Dad’s lips against his forehead had been the first thing he had felt since the Death Eater had cast _crucio_ on him, now he could feel so much more.

It wasn’t the excruciating burning pain he had felt only minutes before, but his muscles hurt. Everything hurt. Weakly, he raised and arm and tried to object to the fact that he knew their Dad was going to leave now. He could hear Ginny and Ron crying again too, they must have realised Dad was going to leave too. And the twins were trying to hide it with their heads placed on top of the youngest two kids, but they were definitely crying too, he could see their chests heaving and he had always been able to tell when they did. Percy was holding onto Bill’s arm still, he could feel that now too and Merlin, it felt as though he was crushing it and shaking it all at once, but there were tears there too.

Charlie wasn’t though, he could hear Charlie arguing with Dad too and Bill tried to speak again, because Charlie was right they could help him – well, Bill would help him the others would have to stay here.

“Dad, let me –“

“I love you all very much, as does your Mum. Be right back.”

And then he was gone. The door was shut and he left, presumably to help their Mum. He watched as Charlie opened the door and tried to leave and seemed to be stopped by an invisible force that he hit against and raged at, while the tears that hadn’t been there while Dad had been finally seemed to fall from his brother’s eyes. The younger kids were hysterical now and Bill couldn’t seem to find the energy to soothe them. What did it matter if someone heard them now? They couldn’t get out of the room – logic would suggest that no one could get in. Dad had warded them in.

If any of the Weasleys knew wards it was Bill – he had already had half a dozen arguments with his mother because he was fascinated with building them and breaking them and wanted to work in it one day. The spells Dad had cast had seemed familiar to him, even if they had been far too complicated for him to fully comprehend. They were warded in the room. To keep them safe. To keep the Death Eaters out.

Bill felt an emptiness in his chest and he knew there was a part of his heart that just ached and hurt and was crying, even if his face stayed dry. Because that had sounded an awful lot like Dad had been saying goodbye to them. And if Dad had really thought he was coming back, there would have been no need to make the wards block both entry and exit.

_Dad was not coming back._

Five minutes after Bill realised Dad was not coming back, silence reigned downstairs and he could not hear either of his parents shouting spells anymore. The incomprehensible shouting had grown even harder to understand gradually and then ceased. Six minutes after he realised Dad was not coming back, two Death Eaters appeared at the doorway and tried to get into the room the children were holed up in. When the wards held and protected them, they taunted the children and jeered that their parents were both dead and no one could save them.

Fifteen minutes later after Bill realised Dad was not coming back, the Death Eaters grew bored and left. Bill clutched his siblings close and continued to hold the tears at bay. Someone would come to help them; they would have to.

Thirty-five minutes after Bill realised Dad was not coming back, someone did come to help them.

_But it was not their Mum or Dad._


End file.
